Modeling the hips and legs

Modeling the hips and legs...

Step 97.
Select the bottom row of points by drag selecting the whole spline or by clicking on one point and hitting the "," key.

a note about the numbering of these tutorials. You're probably thinking "step 97? Come on this guy is more complicated than building a 747 from tooth picks.

Well I'm simply trying to show a progression from start to finish. Each individual section should be considered its own tutorial, but for those of you who might come into the tutorial midway without seeing the beginning parts, I'm letting you know that there are several other sections besides this one.

Eventually I'll have a nav bar at the top of each section, but till then....

... Step 98.
Extrude the spline up into the body cavity, and scale it slightly so that it doesn't collide with the torso's mesh.

Step 99.
Extrude the spline ring down twice. Sculpt the points to begin the form of the butt and hips.

Notice the Hooks I've added on the butt. This will allow for a better curve and more patches to animate. Since the butt stretches a great deal when the leg is lifted, its better to have more patches. If you don't have enough patches you'll end up with some very odd looking buttocks during animation.

Step 100.
Keep extruding the splines down. Keep sculpting the hips and butt cheeks.

Notice the Hook I've added on the hip. Again this is an area that creases allot, so it will need more geometry in order to describe that crease when we animate.

Don't get caught in the trap of trying to model a low patch count model and leaving out the detail in the joints. If you do your joints wont animate very well.

At the same time don't "over model" your joints. To much detail will make animation a pain.

As a rule I try to give myself one or maybe two more spline rings than I think I'll need to animate. That way I'm covered for most joint bends and I dont have to retrofit the model with splines to fix a joint later.

Practice will teach you more than I ever could, so try modeling several types of joints and seeing what it takes to create good bends.

Step 101.
Draw a spline for the contour of the leg. Lathe it with a setting for 8 sections. You can lathe it with more detail if the figure has more muscle definition or detail. Otherwise a setting of 8 sections on a lathe will allways give you a decent amount of patches to work with, and more importantly, a spline on each side.

Having a spline in each corner of a round shape helps to keep that shape round when you start tweaking it. Without those splines to "anchor" the cylinder, you could easily tweak it to the point of losing your curve and make it difficult to recover the shape. Trust me on this one. I've been there.

Step 102.
Position the leg and begin tweaking the splines to form the thighs and lower leg.

Step 103.
Some images of the finished leg. Very simple, but it describes a fairly complex shape, which can be further enhanced to look like cloth with a displacement map.

Step 104.
Copy and Flip the leg on the x-axis. Position the copy.

Step 105.
Begin attaching the obvious spline matches. Don't you love to play connect the dots?

Once the obvious stuff is done, create a spline to connect the inner thighs together. Make sure this "crotch" spline has a point on the center axis.

Step 107.
Now the fun part. Figuring out how to fill the holes. All I can say is look at the pictures and see if you can get something similar.

Notice the five point patches and the hooks. I'm starting to notice a pattern here. Maybe its just the way I model, but I allways have 5 point patches and hooks at complicated joints.

Notice the hip "hook" went straight into the spline on the leg. Don't you love it when a plan comes together?

Step 108.
All that's left is to select the patches that make up the pants and group them. Name them something descriptive....like....pants. and give them a color if you wish.

I generally color my groups as I go to give me a visual way of seeing them without having to count them in the project workspace.

And he's done.... Well almost done. Still have to put his hands and feet on him.

Which we will do in the next sections.

Back to tutorial index

Next tutorial

Modeling the hips and legs...

Step 97.
Select the bottom row of points by drag selecting the whole spline or by clicking on one point and hitting the "," key.

a note about the numbering of these tutorials. You're probably thinking "step 97? Come on this guy is more complicated than building a 747 from tooth picks.

Eventually I'll have a nav bar at the top of each section, but till then....

... Step 98.
Extrude the spline up into the body cavity, and scale it slightly so that it doesn't collide with the torso's mesh.

Step 99.
Extrude the spline ring down twice. Sculpt the points to begin the form of the butt and hips.

Notice the Hooks I've added on the butt. This will allow for a better curve and more patches to animate. Since the butt stretches a great deal when the leg is lifted, its better to have more patches. If you don't have enough patches you'll end up with some very odd looking buttocks during animation.

Step 100.
Keep extruding the splines down. Keep sculpting the hips and butt cheeks.

Notice the Hook I've added on the hip. Again this is an area that creases allot, so it will need more geometry in order to describe that crease when we animate.

Don't get caught in the trap of trying to model a low patch count model and leaving out the detail in the joints. If you do your joints wont animate very well.

At the same time don't "over model" your joints. To much detail will make animation a pain.

As a rule I try to give myself one or maybe two more spline rings than I think I'll need to animate. That way I'm covered for most joint bends and I dont have to retrofit the model with splines to fix a joint later.

Practice will teach you more than I ever could, so try modeling several types of joints and seeing what it takes to create good bends.

Having a spline in each corner of a round shape helps to keep that shape round when you start tweaking it. Without those splines to "anchor" the cylinder, you could easily tweak it to the point of losing your curve and make it difficult to recover the shape. Trust me on this one. I've been there.

Step 102.
Position the leg and begin tweaking the splines to form the thighs and lower leg.

Step 103.
Some images of the finished leg. Very simple, but it describes a fairly complex shape, which can be further enhanced to look like cloth with a displacement map.

Step 104.
Copy and Flip the leg on the x-axis. Position the copy.

Step 105.
Begin attaching the obvious spline matches. Don't you love to play connect the dots?

Once the obvious stuff is done, create a spline to connect the inner thighs together. Make sure this "crotch" spline has a point on the center axis.

Step 107.
Now the fun part. Figuring out how to fill the holes. All I can say is look at the pictures and see if you can get something similar.

Notice the five point patches and the hooks. I'm starting to notice a pattern here. Maybe its just the way I model, but I allways have 5 point patches and hooks at complicated joints.

Notice the hip "hook" went straight into the spline on the leg. Don't you love it when a plan comes together?

Step 108.
All that's left is to select the patches that make up the pants and group them. Name them something descriptive....like....pants. and give them a color if you wish.

I generally color my groups as I go to give me a visual way of seeing them without having to count them in the project workspace.

And he's done.... Well almost done. Still have to put his hands and feet on him.

Which we will do in the next sections.

Back to tutorial index

Next tutorial